Hash Code Cracker is a Java-based software utility developed to help security professionals test the strength of a password by attempting to crack its MD5, MD4, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-284, SHA-512, NTLM or CISCO 7 signature.

Installation is not a requirement, so the app can be considered portable. You can drop the JAR file anywhere on the hard disk and just click it to run.

It is also a possibility to save Hash Code Cracker to a USB flash disk or similar storage unit, in order to run it on any PC with minimum effort, provided that it has Java installed.

What's more, the Windows registry does not get updated with new entries, and files are not left behind on the HDD after removing the utility.

The interface is based on a regular window with a plain and simple structure, divided into three areas dedicated to an online cracker, dictionary attack mode, and hash code generation, respectively.

In the case of online cracking, all you have to do is paste the hash, select the signature mode, and start the cracking operation with one click. The password will be shown in the main frame pretty quickly.

When it comes to dictionary attack, you can use the file browser to select a dictionary file, choose the input case type (uppercase or lowercase) and other (e.g. reverse or double input, numbers at the end), and follow the previously described steps.

Last but not least, Hash Code Cracker integrates a function for generating hash codes to be used for passwords. Basically, this is a reversed process, so it is necessary to just enter a password and hash method to obtain results.

The simple-to-use software tool does not put a strain on computer performance, since it runs on low CPU and RAM. It has a good response time and works well, without causing the OS to hang, crash or pop up error dialogs. In conclusion, Hash Code Cracker offers intuitive, yet advanced options for finding out passwords by analyzing MD5 and other types of signatures, as well as for generating them according to the same criteria.

Hash Code Cracker was reviewed by Elena Opris, last updated on December 12th, 2013